I am genuinely unable to understand some things. ESO is a B2P title with various bundles and benefits attached to them.
Truth is, a B2P game cannot sustain itself on sales only. So, like any sane company would do, ZOS created the crownstore, where gameplay-irrelevant stuff was put to make you look a bit more shiny. All fun and games.
Then ZOS put the Crown Crates. Gamble mechanism where you can get that shiny stuff and some more, more shiny, things. Alright. Atronach Wolf and Bear seemed cool but I couldn't get myself to buy a couple of those crates because I need money for other stuff.
ZOS steadily releases costumes and motifs. Talking for myself, I'm fine with having only an armor. Heck, for me the Imperial and Nord Heavy are the best things in the game.
ZOS puts housing in. "Awesome!" I think. Let's see some opinions on the forum, maybe I can learn a thing or two about it.
No storage. "Aw, oh well, I guess those couple chars I have and the bank space should suffice anyway." with the optional "I have the craft bag, so all cool for me anyway". Didn't seem that big of a deal to me, so I moved on.
Houses can be bought with crowns. Suddently, uproar. Why is that so? Why are people hating on ZOS putting houses for sale through crowns too?
ZOS puts Name, Race and Appearance change up.
People start complaining about other people that are able to change those features.
"I don't want to change that stuff, why should they?" or "I want to change it too, why isn't it free?"
As far as I've seen, no one actually said that directly, but the underlying message was pretty much what I've written.
I agree that a couple things need improvement. Mainly the horse training needs to be improved and the trading houses need to be a bit more compact, but why are most people so hostile towards ZOS and other players for using money to get game benefits?
Most comment I've read assume that everything in the game should be free and obtainable only through sweating in front of the screen. Entitled, lazy or downright hating players that seek things to go as it pleases them without wanting to do anything in return.
Some time ago, a B2P or P2P model was thought to be a good way to filter toxic behaviours. What happened? Is it some kind of elitism? Do they believe that buying a game and only paying for that will fund the company? Is wanting free stuff and demonizing those that buy it a way to cope for something?
I am really baffled at the complete absence of logic behind that. Or rather, I can't see it, I guess.
Some people may say "It's just a step towards a Pay to Win model."
But what if it isn't, and by acting like spoiled children you are invalidating your opinion if things get messy for real, and you won't be heard for all the useless hassle you caused?
I bought the game and managed to squeeze in the Guilds and Glory pack when it came out. Didn't spend a single cent besides that and I am simply satisfied of what I got. Unless housing is so bad that it somehow destroys my equimenet and my chances at doing anything useful in the game, I don't see why people buying them with real cash is a problem.
If they want to do it, let them.
If they can do it and have the money to buy all the cosmetics then good on him and wish me luck to get to the point of spending numbers with more than 3 zeroes on a game.
If they can't afford it but buy it anyway, it's their problem. I won't spend something on a game if I need it to eat.
Just saying, don't fear change and, if you don't want to earn stuff in game, just pay. Truth is no one is encouraging you to pay. Everybody is allured by shiny and useless stuff. You just don't have to give in.
The problem with all of the arguments about the crown store is that every single item there is a vanity item and only affects ego.
"I had to spend $300 to get such and such from the crown crates!"
Does what you got affect the game in anyway? No. You did it because something in your head told you that you NEEDED it, whilst you really didn't. I'm sorry if you have a gambling addiction or think you need and even more useless than normal imaginary item still useless in a place that doesn't actually exist.
Vanity and ego drive the greed and anger for that part.
The other argument would be to ask in return, "Would you prefer they go to a subscription based system in order to access the game at all? No? Then how do you suggest they make money?"
Publius_Scipio wrote: »People complain because they fall for fake news! Fake news that ESO is failing. Fake news that all development is focused on crown store and crown crates and that the rest of the game is being neglected, etc.
Because it goes way beyond reasonable.
I pay subscription. I always do, in all MMOs, no matter what are subs rewards - because they need money not only on for development, but to keep up all infrastructure, and as a specialist in this area I know how much it cost.
But for me it means I am entitled for most of content in the game. Now let see - mounts are crown store only. A lot of hair styles are crown store only. Costumes as well. Now will be some crown store only houses. Well, I have my subs crown allowance - and it was enough to buy mounts once in a while, or something else which I cannot get by in game means. Was fair for me. If I need to save 3 month to buy one mount - it is not what I consider a fair bargain for subscribers. Either it should be available through in game methods - or crown allowance for subscribers has to by higher.
I hate it because it's inconsistent. The prices ZOS charge for items varies as from a seemingly day-to-day basis with no grounds for reality.
You can get all existing facial hair for 1,000 crowns... or you can buy one really hideous squid beard for the same price. Some personalities cost 700 crowns, others 1,200. Others you can get in multiple packs. The dro-m'Athra motif costs 6,000 crowns, but can be bought in game for about 150K. Pages go for anywhere between 8-12K per. But limited edition, really high end Crown Store only motifs cost about 2K crowns.
Their pricing is all over the place and makes zero sense at all, especially in regards to some of the older motifs. I don't mind the way they support themselves but I do mind the how, and that how is inconsistent as hell.
I agree with you on that, forcing stones with the dro-m'Athra motif is lazy on ZOS' part. Epicly lazy. Those whiskers are not rare at all, and with ZOS double drop rates with the Thieves Guild anniversary event they'll be even MORE common. They don't sell for much anymore, and the demand for them has tanked considerably (people like glowy mounts, not so much violently glowy armor).Stopnaggin wrote: »Pricing is all over the place but not really on the motif. If you look back other in game motifs were 5000 crowns and had no style stones with them. 6000 crowns with stones isn't as bad as everyone is making out to be. Now on the 2 exclusive motifs were priced very decent, first better than 2nd, but I would assume that is because you have to buy mimic stones to craft those. I see 6000 crowns not so much as a cash grab as it is more of a lazy tax.
Publius_Scipio wrote: »People complain because they fall for fake news! Fake news that ESO is failing. Fake news that all development is focused on crown store and crown crates and that the rest of the game is being neglected, etc.
ArcVelarian wrote: »Because people have seen other games follow the same path and die a slow and horrible death. Just take SWTOR for example, the game ultimately failed because the cash shop was draining too much development time away from actual content and the free to play option would nickel and dime people away from the game.
People have come to REALLY despise cash shops in games as they are an indicator of the kinds of practices a company is willing to stoop to.
Stovahkiin wrote: »People love to cry and call companies greedy when they don't get what they want for free.
ZOS puts housing in. "Awesome!" I think. Let's see some opinions on the forum, maybe I can learn a thing or two about it.
No storage. "Aw, oh well, I guess those couple chars I have and the bank space should suffice anyway." with the optional "I have the craft bag, so all cool for me anyway". Didn't seem that big of a deal to me, so I moved on.
Houses can be bought with crowns. Suddently, uproar. Why is that so? Why are people hating on ZOS putting houses for sale through crowns too?